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Fritz Salmen House
Courtesy of the Capital Resource Conservation and Development Council Interior of the Salmen House
Photograph from the National Register collection |
The
Fritz Salmen House is a one-and-one-half-story frame residence located
on a large lot bordering one of Slidell's major thoroughfares. Built
around 1900, the Fritz Salmen House is locally significant because of
its close association with Fritz Salmen, founder of the brickyard which
was Slidwell's first major industrial facility. The home was Fritz
Salmen's residence from its construction until his death in 1934. The
Salmen Brothers Brick and Lumber Company was the economic mainstay of
Slidell from its founding in the 1880s through at least the second
decade of the 20th century. Stylistically, the Fritz Salmen House
features elements from both the Colonial Revival and the Queen Anne
styles. The Colonial Revival decorative features include it's overall
symmetrical, boxy shape, a pillared porch wrapping around two sides of
the building beneath the home's main roof, a hipped roof with prominent
central shed dormers, and a double entrance door. The dwelling's
surviving Queen Anne style characteristics include textured shingles on
the sides of the dormers; one intact bay window; and corbelled chimney
tops.Slidell's birth coincided with the arrival of the New Orleans
and Northeastern Railroad, which surveyed the townsite in 1883. At the
time the parish was already well known for its fine clay deposits, which
had furnished the raw material for brick making since well before the
Civil War. When Swiss immigrant Fritz Salmen arrived in 1886, Slidell
became a center of brickmaking. With his two brothers, Jacob and Albert,
Fritz established a small brickworks in which the employees made bricks
by hand. True entrepreneurs, the brothers soon branched out,
establishing The Salmen Brothers Brick and Lumber Company in 1886. Next,
they expanded into shipbuilding in 1914 and then this portion of the
business branched off into its own company, the Slidell Shipbuilding
Corporation on Bayou Bonfouca. After the economic boom years during
World War I, Fritz and Albert, the surviving brothers, began to cut back
their operations. By 1926, a new company owned the original brick and
lumber plant, but the Salmen brothers, in their seventies, operated a
smaller brick and lumber plant along the bayou.
The Salmen
House is located at 127 Cleveland Ave. in Slidell. The house is now a
restaurant and special event venue. Groups tours can be arranged by
calling 1.866.672.8866, visit Patton's for dining information.
Source: Internet
